| Cornelia Catherine Timberlake |
| "ONE CENTURY PLUS FOUR: Mrs. Cornelia Catherine Garret's sparkling eyes belie her 104 years. The little lady reaches that age milestone today, and a flock of relatives will attend a birthday party for her at Patrick Henry Hospital [Newport News, VA] this afternoon. She has been a patient there since 1954...the oldest patient ever admitted to the hospital. This will be a gala occasion for Mrs. Garret, a native of New Kent County and a former resident of Newport News and James City County. |
| One day last week, she sat up on the edge of her bed to reminisce. Mrs. Garret, who chats with a clearness that belies her years, lived the biggest part of her life on a small farm near Toano. Se moved there from New Kent County after marrying. She was born November 6, 1851, and remembers the incidents of the "awful" Civil War. Perhaps uppermost in her mind, so far as that conflict is concerned, is the protection given her by an aged family maid. Her mother died shortly before the war broke out, Mrs. Garret recalled. She remembered that soldiers and plunderers "took everything we had but the land". |
| How has she lived so long? "God took care of me," she declares, and there is no doubt in the tone of her voice. Mrs. Garret raised seven children of her own, five of her second husband's, four of a brother-in-law's, and a half-brother of her own. She says she has two living daughters, 26 grandchildren, 42 great-grandchildren, and 39 great-great-grandchildren. |
| Toano, Nov. 5 -- Mrs. Cornelia Timberlake Garrett will be 100 years old Tuesday. Mrs. Garrett, twice married, is the widow of Richard Minor Garrett, farmer of James City County, who died in 1900 after 26 years of marriage to her. Her first husband, Marshall Monroe Martin, a school teacher of James City County, only lived three months after their marriage. |
| Aunt Cornie, as she is called by her nieces, newphews, and close friends, was a big girl when the War Between the States broke out. Born and raised in New Kent County, near Barhamsville; the old home place where she was born is still in the family, she was the daughter of James W. Timberlake and Elizabeth Eames Timberlake. There are six children who were left motherless, when she was nine, she went to live with her grandfather, Joel Eames. |
| Mrs. Garrett says that 2 of her sons died in accidents. Her eldest daughter died last August. The three living children all reside in Newport News [VA], Mrs. W. A. Johnson, Mrs. J. E. Williams and Freddie S. Garrett. There are 26 grandchildren, 42 great-grandchildren, and 14 great-great-grandchildren. She also has a brother, J. L. Timberlake, 92 years old, and a half-brother, Robert A. Timberlake, both living in New Kent. |
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